Daughter of LCpl Nick ZAHORODNY, Canadian 1st Hussars

Just new here starting research. I love this site, so much information. My dad would have loved it too. I don't know at lot at this point. Waiting for service records. What I do know is he enlisted in Canada in 1942. He trained at Camp Borden in Ontario. He left Canada on Dec 26,1942 from Halifax. He was with the 1st Hussars, I believe it was C squadron. He was a wire op. in a tank. His commander was Lieutenant WAP Smith. Trying to put together where he was and when. I know he fought at Caen, Falaise, Battle of Bulge, Gap? He was on the front lines for a year. he was honorably discharged February 1946. He was overseas for 4 years. He came back to Canada in 1946 and married and raised a family of Seven girls. It was kind of fitting that he never had a son and had to send him off to war. His was a very kind, loving, gentle father. He did not talk about the war much. He used to be afraid of thunderstorms. I think it reminded him of battle noise. Him and our mother died in a car accident in 1995 when he was 72 yrs old. I am so proud of him and would like to learn more. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hello and welcome to the forum.
I'm sure there will be members along soon to help.

Lesley

 

Good day and welcome. Their are many on this site who can fill you in with info and all of us can feed you all or as much as you want, information, while you wait for his records. I’ll see what I have in my files and send you what I have

First, a map showing their movements on the D Day Landings



To review the Units war diaries and see where they were every day from the D Day landings to the end of the war, I would recommend going to Project 44, and on line resource that shows you the Canadian Armies location. You just need to type in the 6th Cdn Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars) in the appropriate seach box and it will give you the day by day location, and the war diaries for each day

Link to the site:

Project '44

IF, he was in “C” Squadron, below is the Landing Table information for that Squadron (which vessel carried the unit)…….this is only “C” Squadron, if he happened to be in another Squadron, we can give you that also.

 

The war diaries for the 1st Hussars are available here. They are chronological starting in 1939 and continue through 1945. It is a great deal of material, but you may be able to find a mention of your father with some persistence.

War diaries : T-12653 - Héritage
War diaries : T-12654 - Héritage
War diaries : T-12655 - Héritage
War diaries : T-12656 - Héritage
War diaries : T-12657 - Héritage

 

Here’s a Youtube video of the History of the 1st Hussars



In the last reel above I found a record showing Lt WAP Smith being wounded on 7th June 44. I noticed in this WD, it mentions that Lt WAP Smith was in Recce Troop…….this would have been a Stuart Light Tank. And if your father was with him then, they would have been landed from LST’s later on D Day.

Edit; Correction to spelling of tank type, thanks Chris

 

Minor correction - a Stuart tank.

Amazingly, there is colour footage of the 1st Hussars training in Camp Borden in the winter of 1940-41 (I think). So this would be before your father joined the regiment, but it should give you some idea of the place. I'm not sure what tanks they would have used for training at Borden in 1942.

 

Found a bit more info. His name IS/IS NOT on this nominal roll on the Regiments return from Europe. You can see his name on the bottom of this list…….but it’s “struck out”…..meaning that he did NOT go back with the rest of the Regiment.

It also shows his Regimental Number was H-64125, and his rank at that time was A/LCpl (Acting Lance Corporal).

 

omg cant believe how

Yes that was his service # H-64125

why is name stroked off

 

I did explain, it means that he did NOT return with the rest of the Regiment, as you indicated he did not return to 1946, so he probably did not have enough points, and may have then gone to one of the units that was staying in Europe as the CAOF (Canadian Army Occupation Force).

I’m searching right now to see if I can find the ship he may have been on when he went oversea’s. The 1st Hussar’s were already in England when he sailed in 1942.

I’m still looking to see what I can find for you

 

I believe at the time he was engaged to a girl in holland. so maybe that had something to do with is?

he said he came home on the morataina to halifax. does that make sense?

I did find where he was suppose to be on a ship for New York. Where he was apart of the 788 Cdn unit. But his name is stoked off. So he did not arrive there.

e said when he went overseas he was on the Queen Elizabeth#4

 

I’m looking, if he said he was part of 788, this would have been:

Serial 788 - 49th Anti-Aircraft Battery (Type H) RCA

So he may have been originally assigned to the above unit, but his name was “struck out” as you said, so he probably was moved (His records, when you get them should tell us exactly which units he was assigned to, when he joined them, and when he left them)

BUT, this doesn’t make sense to me, as his Regimental Number H-64125 tells me he enlisted in Military District 10, which was Manitoba and the Western half of Ontario, he he joined the Canadian Armoured Corps……so he probably wasn’t in the 49th AA Battery??

So this may be confusing, but his records will help a lot to straighten all this out.

 

I think you are referring to the RMS Mauretania (1938) for his return.

The ship, under the ship number below, made multiple trips from the UK to Canada from 1945 onwards.

W-1029/1030 - Reels C5642/43
W-1065 - Reel 5646
W-1081 - Reel 5648
W-1086 - Reel 5649
W-1099 - Reel 5650
W-1113 - Reel 5651
W-1153 - Reel 5721/22

These microfilmed reels can be found here:

Directorate of Movements - Héritage

Again, these reels contain a great deal of information including rolls of the returning Canadian soldiers.

 

wow you guys are amazing. Thanks so much. Will take me a while to get thru all info. May have some questions as i am not not much up on army language. But i am learning.

 

Maybe it was a different smith because i remember him saying he was in a sherman.

 

Striking his name off the embarkation list would be a fairly last minute thing. They planned for him to go and had started the admin/paperwork before something changed. My hunch it would have to be fairly serious if it involved his fiance.

Mobilization serial 788 doesn't seem to fit. 49 AA Bty was never overseas, serving around Halifax and in Newfoundland. Would be helpful to see this or any other documentation you might have.

 

I found his return to Canada. He was on the H.M.T. Mauretania, arrived Halifax on the 1 Jan 1946. Ship voyage serial W.1030.



https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c5643/1495

Mauretania




R.M.S. Mauretania (2) 1939 to 1965

Here is the cover sheet for his serial. You can see they embarked the ship in Liverpool on the 27 Dec 1945 and arrived in Halifax on the 1 Jan 1946. He came from 1 Canadian Repat Depot


Info on 1 Cdn Repat Depot, Huron Camp

 

From 'The Gallant Hussars' by Michael McNorgan. Lieut WAP Smith originally led Recce Tp, moved to 2 i/c A Sqn (as Capt) late July 44.

 

How do i post documents or pictures on this forum? sorry newbe Need my daughter she is very computer knowledgeable. Obviously I am not.

Wow love this video. He said the tanks were crap at camp Borden. They had to learn all over again on the Sherman's. What ever he learned there kept him alive. So all good.

Thanks Temujiin for researching . I appreciate it.

 

Just watched history of 1st hussars video. Very touching thanks for sharing.